1. Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of heat-dissipating housings for electronic components that give off considerable heat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is the object of the invention to improve at little expense the cooling of an electronic circuit component applied on the bottom in the interior of the housing described in European Pat. No. 01374825 A2 when large portions of the housing, even the entire tub, are insufficiently heat-conducting to remove the heat created by the circuit component during operation, or at least a major portion thereof, to a circulating cooling medium. The heat-creating circuit component itself may be composed of several members disposed inside the housing discretely, namely, for example, a light emitting diode with a 1W power dissipation requirement and a driver chip having a similarly high power dissipation requirement as a high-frequency preamplifier for the light emitting diode. For the safe operation of such components, the two members must be cooled sufficiently. In this case, seen as a whole, insufficiently heat-conducting materials are applied for large parts of the housing which present considerable difficulties, for example, special steel, chosen for reasons of corrosion protection, for the bottom or for the entire tub. Especially when a plurality of such housings are mounted on a circuit board packed close together, cooling is possible essentially only via the outer cover. In addition, the measures according to the invention are to create also a considerable thermal dissipation capacity near enough to the circuit component to absorb brief, very high power, dissipation requirement peaks.
These problems of the prior art are solved in accordance with an aspect of the invention by lining the tubs with a lining sheet having a good heat transitional section toward the component and the cover.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, manufacturing cost is reduced. In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, a low heat transfer resistance is achieved under difficult conditions between the circuit component--or a member thereof--and the lining sheet, preferably the bottom region thereof. Moreover, a small heat transfer resistance between the lining sheet and the outer cover even in mass production and at low cost can be achieved, despite large manufacturing tolerances for an inner cover. In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, partitions are utilized for improving the cooling and at the same time for shielding between different members of the circuit components. In accordance with still another aspect of the invention, the heat transfer resistance between the lining sheet and the outer cover is minimized without having to adhere to narrow manufacturing tolerances for the lining sheet or for the outer cover.
The invention and its developments will be explained further with reference to two figures.